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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Falcon Punch

Sucker Punch is a feminist film. The males are one dimensional caricatures, compared to the fully flesh out females. This is at an utter contrast to what everyone was expecting, and subverts the expectations of the audience, a goal that it set out to achieve, as evidenced by the title. I realize this is not exactly topical, but I couldn't really express what I felt until now.

The movie follows the Joss Whedon school of feminism, hot girls kicking ass. However by having the males in the film either incompetent, or straight villainous a different image than what the previews showed and what many fans went into expecting. The film subverts expectations and panders to the fan-boys, but also insults them. The scenes of action that appeared to be blatant pandering were all part of the intricate dance that is the film.

On the surface it appears to be the standard popcorn flick, with attractive women, explosive action, and a paper thin plot, but this is not at all the case. These preconceived notions could in part due to director Zack Snyder's previous extremely testosterone filled affair, 300 . On the third level of reality in the film this would be true, but looking at the film at a whole it is a feminine film, about the struggles of one girl, and here attempts to be a good big sister.

Now the action scenes are amazing, and the soundtrack fits it amazingly well, but that is not the point. The point is that it is just fantasy, an escape from the real world, and the hardships within. The movie actually has two levels of fantasy, and the 50's brothel is just the second layer. All the viewers of the brothel are the fan-boys, "the men in the dark are us", the film comments on the sexism that appears to be inherent in the culture, breaking it down piece by piece.

The film is not for everyone, the plot can be confusing, and some will compare it to Inception. This is wrong, the themes they deal with are completely different, and the purpose of the action is completely different, as well as the feelings of both films. Overall though I highly recommend seeing it, if only just once, because it is an incredibly polarizing film that needs to be seen for an opinion to be made, because honestly, no one can tell you whether you like a film or not, you have to decide it for yourself.